Thursday, January 28, 2010

It's beginning to look as though legislators in the Commonwealth ofVirginia may also take action to oppose the Navy's plans to put a practicejet landing field (the much-maligned Outlying Landing Field that manyNorth Carolinians fought so hard in recent years)in the tidewater area ofVirginia. The Navy is looking at sites in northeastern N.C. as well asVirginia.

Doris Morris, one of the organizers of the effort in N.C. to persuade theNavy that the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge was the wrong placeto build a landing field that would put large migratory waterfowl and SuperHornet jets in the same airspace, sends along a story from the TidewaterNews in southeast Virginia that the legislature is considering a bill tostop the Navy from putting the OLF in the tidewater area. The proposal issomewhat similar to legislation the NC General Assembly has adopted.

Written by Sarah Sonies of the Capital News Service, here's an excerpt:

"RICHMOND — State legislators are considering a bill that could block theU.S. Navy from building an outlying landing field in the Tidewater area.Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Fred M. Quayle, R-Suffolk, would requirethe Navy to get approval from the General Assembly before acquiringproperty for an OLF.

"'There have been some designated potential sites for Outlying LandingFields,' Quayle said. 'The citizens almost unanimously don’t want them,and they don’t bring any economic development; they are simply takingproperty off the tax holders.'

"Quayle said the bill would ensure the federal government must take anadditional step before locating an OLF in a county that does not have amilitary air base.

"SB 6 would 'require approval by the General Assembly before the UnitedStates acquires property for an outlying landing field in localities thathave no current military base at which aircraft squadrons are stationed.'Currently, the federal government has conditional consent to acquire landrequired for needed public buildings in Virginia."

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About This Blog

Jack Betts is an Observer associate editor who has written
about North Carolina since graduating from UNC Chapel Hill in 1968. A former
Pentagon photographer and Washington correspondent for Landmark newspapers,
Betts was Raleigh Bureau Chief for the Greensboro Daily News and editor of
North Carolina Insight magazine before joining the Observer in 1992.